A contractor has proposed Goodman heat pumps for a friends house. They are a 2 ton and 4 ton 16 SEER SSZ16 units. I know the question of how good the Goodman units are has been asked before. Generally I hear the thickness of the sheet metal may not be as great as the better known brand units, but the parts and the manufacturing quality control are good. And also that you must have a competent installer, but this is true of any brand.

It wasn't really that long ago when there was a significant difference in quality between the "big 4" and other manufacturers. Carrier, Trane, York and Lennox were rated far above everyone else in quality, reliability and efficiency. However, the engineering has been shared and what used to be the lesser brands have borrowed technology and improved their products to compete.

My general advice to owners now is not to compare brand names, but focus on efficiency, length of warranty, and local availability of parts. The last one can be important and is most often overlooked. I've had 2 instances in the last few months where customers had to wait more than 7 days to get a replacement part from a manufacturer because it wasn't available locally.

Goodman is a very popular brand and is backed by a strong warranty. They offer a very reasonably priced extended warranty program that is exactly like the full parts and labor program that Trane offered in the 1990's.

A salesman might share a statistic that "Technicians work on more Goodman products than any other brand" to hint that they are unreliable. I believe that there are just many more Goodman units in the market because they are the common choice for homebuilders. Goodman's overall expected lifespan may however be a bit shorter. I will admit that I've never repaired a Goodman unit that was over 15 years old.

Make sure the evap coil is aluminum in air handlers not cooper,goodman had a problem with leaking coils,problem was is the copper provider ,most of the evap coils have changed,I have installed a lot of goodman units over the past 4 yrs an have had problems with leaking coils from 15seer package units to 13 seer split heat pumps, I would purchase a system with the best warranty .there r some good warranties out there,I would recommend purchasing a labor warranty also, most units come with 10yr on parts, Also, a system is only as good as its installation,sizing ductwork is critical on new high eff units.if your ductwork is over 10 yr old replace it also